Konoha's Alice
by RaixAngel
Summary: Story contain references to Heart No Kuni No Alice. What happens when, at the end of the game, Alice doesn't want to leave? What happens when she starts inhabiting the body of her descendent who lives in Konoha? Sasuke X OC.
1. Chapter 1

My first story. No mean reviews please. And sorry for the many changes in P.O.V

* * *

"YOUR LATE!" Shouted a pair of leaf shinobi as a sliver-haired jonin and I arrived at the training ground. One was a girl about my age with pink hair that fell half way to her waist. She wore a pink dress with slits at the side from the hips down that was coupled with a

pair of black tights. She wore the forehead protecter in her hair.

The other was a boy of similar age with yellowish hair and wore his forehead protecter on his … surprise!…forehead. He wore a orange and blue jacket and a pair of orange pants.

Hakate Kakashi, the Copycat Ninja, saluted them and said,"Today, we have a new teammate. She was sick on the graduation ceremony and so missed the introductions…"

I stopped listening and started focusing on the boy leaning on a tree in the tree's shadow.

He had ink-black hair with a tint of blue that hangs over both sides of his face and roughly frame his cheeks. He wore a blue shirt with a collar that reached his chin and a pair of white shorts.

I noticed all of them had their kunai holster on their right thighs.

"So all of them are right-handed, or maybe ambidextrous with the right being more dominant." I thought.

* * *

Sakura P.O.V

* * *

While listening to Kakashi-sensei talk , I noticed the girl standing next to him. She had the Konoha forehead protecter worn in a similar style to mine.

With black hair that reached her waist and matching eyes, it matched her outfit perfectly, a black dress with a red ribbon tied in front of her chest that reached her knees and a pair of black pants with the kunai holster on the right thigh. She also wore a black choker and carried a…rabbit?

The rabbit looked like a stuffed toy. It wore glasses, a coat that was covered with a red-diamond patten and the ends were black. The pants were white and the tie was red and had part of a clock at the right side of it.

There was also a clock on a chain which the rabbit wore like a sling bag.

* * *

(Link to picture www (dot) mangafox (dot) com (slash) manga(slash) heart (underscore) no (underscore) kuni (underscore) no (underscore) alice (slash) v03 (slash) c013 (slash) 4 (dot) html) (www (dot) mangafox (dot) com (slash) manga(slash) heart (underscore) no (underscore) kuni (underscore) no (underscore) alice (slash) v03 (slash) 8 (dot) html) This is how big and how the rabbit looks. It is from the manga Heart No Kuni No Alice. I don't own it.)

* * *

Sasuke P.O.V

* * *

"Please introduce yourself."Kakashi said to the new girl.

"My name is Rai and this is Peter." She said, referring to the rabbit at the end."My last name, likes, dislikes and dreams for the future are none of your concern."

"So all we learned was her name."I though, remembering Kakashi's introduction.

* * *

FF to after introduction

* * *

Rai P.O.V

Kakashi took out a clock and stated,holding up three bells,"This clock is set for noon. Your objective is to take these from me before noon."

I stopped listening at that point, looking at a squirrel climb up a tree. It was when Kakashi ran to Naruto and pointed his own kunai at his neck did I start paying attention.

He said,"Hehehe, seems like I am starting to like you guys. Ok Let's get going. Ready. START!"

I jumped to a tree and hid in the leaves and waited for the old man to show an opening.

* * *

FF to after Naruto got caught in the trap

* * *

Rai P.O.V

Finally the old man showed an opening! But it turned out to be a trap and the Uchiha fell for it. Sasuke immediately jumped away to a new hiding place.

"Now Kakashi will start to hunt us down right?"

"Most likely, Peter."

"So what do we do?" Peter turned his head and asked.

I smiled and replied,"Set a trap."

* * *

Kakashi P.O.V

* * *

After fighting Sasuke, I started to look for Rai. I thought it would be easy as she was wearing a black dress and carrying a white rabbit in the middle of a forest.

I was so wrong. It took me a longer time to find her compared to finding Sakura and Sasuke.

As I entered a clearing, I was ambushed by a brunch of kunai and knifes.

* * *

Rai P.O.V

* * *

When all the weapons were launched, I jumped to the clearing and realized the old man turned into a log.

Then, like a Jake-in-the-box, he popped out of the ground.

"Too late!" He said. I jumped but he managed to grab my left ankle.

Emotionless, I bent and straighten my right leg quickly and a small blade came out of my boot's heel.

I did a half-twist, carrying Peter with my right arm and using my left to support myself, and tried to cut Kakashi's hand.

* * *

Kakashi P.O.V

* * *

The blade was coming straight at my wrist, forcing me to let go of her ankle.

I jumped out of the ground and saw her flip herself backwards and stood upright, supporting her rabbit with both arms at its mid-section.

"A ninja should never have both hands occupied in battle." I said as I appeared behind her, ready to knock her out with a genjutsu.

She turned to face me with a smile and made some seals and said, "Shadow style Enmi Kai!"

My eyes widened as the clearing faded to black.

* * *

Rai P.O.V

* * *

"Hn, too easy. And you call yourself a jonin?" I said with a small smile as he stopped moving. I reached down to take his bells but an annoying ringing sound filled my ears.

"You took too long. Now you don't have a bell." Peter said.

"Shut up." I replied, releasing the ninjutsu on Kakashi.

"Who was that talking to you and what was the jutsu you used Rai?" He asked in a serious tone, giving me a scary look.

"Who is what and what is who Kakashi-sensei?" I replied, smiling before leaving for the clearing we started from.

* * *

Kakashi P.O.V

* * *

"Who was what and what was who Kakashi-sensei?" She replied, smiling before leaving.

"That voice," I thought as I returned to the clearing, remembering the two sentences the voice said after the alarm went off.

"It sounded like a guy. But I am certain that no one besides me and Rai was in the clearing at that time. Maybe it was the rabbit? No. Impossible. And what was that jutsu? I could not see, feel or move. And the name...Enmi Kai. It sounds so familiar. I am sure I read it somewhere before."

* * *

Rai P.O.V

* * *

I sat between Sasuke and Naruto, who was tied to a stump.

Before I could ask any questions, the old man appeared.

"You guys look hungry..oh and by the way, something about the training. Well, there's no need for you guys to go back to the academy." He said.

All of us were shocked, well maybe not _all_ of us.

Then Sakura did some kind of happy dance and Naruto waved his legs around happily, saying,"Then then all of us...!"

"Yep. All of you...SHOULD QUIT AS SHINOBI!"

Ok. Now I am shocked.


	2. Chapter 2

Recap:"Yep. All of you...SHOULD QUIT AS SHINOBI!"  
Ok. Now I am shocked.

* * *

Rai P.O.V

* * *

Naruto shouted"Quit as shinobi?!! What does that mean?!! Ok!! Ok!! We couldn't get the bell but…Why do we have to quit?!!"

The old man replied with an insult, "Because all of you are just punks who don't deserve to be shinobi."

"Ch."

I turned my head to face the maker of that sound as he ran towards Kakashi-sensei.

Naruto shouted "AH!" as Sakura shouted "Sasuke-kun!"

In an instant, Kakashi-sensei pinned Sasuke by sitting on him, pressing Sasuke's right hand to his back and Kakashi-sensei's right foot on his head.

"Noo!! Don't step in Sasuke-kun!!" Sakura shouted angrily and desperately.

"Are you guys underestimating shinobis? Huh? Why do you think you were divided into teams and doing training?" Kakashi-sensei said seriously.

It was obvious that the two other team members were surprised.

He continued,"Basically…you guys are not understanding the answer to the test."

"Answer?" Naruto asked.

"Yes. The answer that helps you pass this test"

"So..when are you going to tell us?" Sakura demanded.

The old man sighed with his face down.

Naruto, frustrated, shouted, "AHH!! Damn it!! What's the answer already?!!"

Kakashi-sensei looked up and said, "It's teamwork."

All of us was shocked…again.

He continued, "The three of you working together may have gotten the bells."

That was when I noticed something and was about to ask but Sakura beat me to it.

"What do you mean by teamwork? There are only two bells!!! Even if we work together and get the bells, one of us will still fail!! What teamwork? That just makes us fight each other."

Kakashi-sensei looked at her and said,"Of course!! This test is purposely set up to make you fight amongst yourselves."

Naruto replied unconsciously with a confused "Huh?"

"The purpose is to see whether you can forget about your own interests and successfully work together under these designed circumstances. Yet you guys…Sakura, instead of Naruto, who was right next to you…you were only thinking about Sasuke, who was far away.  
Naruto!! You were just running around by yourself. Sasuke!! You just assumed the others would get in your way and tried to do everything yourself. Rai!! Your just like Sasuke!!. The duties are done by the team. Of course superior individual ability is important to a shinobi. But what's even more important is "teamwork'." He reached into his back pouch " Individual play that disrupts the team can put your comrades in danger. and even get you killed. For example…" The old man suddenly took out a kunai and held it against Sasuke's neck and shouts,"Sakura!! Kill Naruto!! Or Sasuke dies!!"

"What!!" Shouted the blond.

"You see? If a hostage is taken, you will have tough choices and then die. You will be risking your lives in these duties." He said, getting of Sasuke.

"Look at this. The numerous names craved on this stone." He continued, walking towards a stab of stone with names decorating the front.

"These are shinobi who are recognized as heros of the village."

"That stone…gives out such a sad aura."I thought sadly.

"Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey!!! I've decided to get my name craved on that stone too!! Hero!! Hero!! That's what I'll become!!" Naruto shouted, obviously he did not know what that stone was for and why only those names were craved on to it.

"But…they aren't just normal heros…"

"Oh yeah?! Then what kind are they?!!"

There was silence form Kakashi-sensei.

"WHAT?!!!"

"They are all heros who died while on duty." I closed my eyes and whispered, but I knew everyone heard me.

"…This is a memorial. My best friend's name is also craved here…." Kakashi-sensei started. "You guys..I'll give you one more chance. But after lunch I'll make it even tougher to get the bells. Those who still wish to challenge can eat lunch. But don't give any to Naruto. It's punishment for trying to eat by yourself. If anyone gives him any food, they will fail immediately. I am the rules here!! Got it?" The old man said before jumping away to who-knows-where.

Naruto shouted, "I don't need any food!! I'm fine!!" But the loud growl from his stomach betrayed him.

I went and got the lunch boxes Kakashi-sensei left and gave it to Sasuke and Sakura.

After a while, I noticed that Naruto looked very depressed and his stomach won't stop growling.

Sasuke noticed and said,"Here," and handed him his half-eaten lunch, shocking both Naruto and Sakura.

"Hey Sasuke-kun, Sensei just said.." Sakura started.

"Don't worry, I don't sense him near here. After lunch we'll work together and get the bells. Without food, he'll just be in the way and that will only hurt us."

"I agree with Sasuke-san." I said softly, placing my lunch box in front of Naruto.

* * *

Naruto P.O.V

* * *

After a while, Sakura-chan quickly handed me her lunch box, showing she was willing to help me.

"Sakura-chan…" I thought, before blushing slightly and gave a small laugh.

"He he he. Thanks."

Before I could eat, a large explosion appeared in the clearing.

"What's this?!" Shouted someone but I couldn't tell who.

Then Kakashi-sensei's face appeared in the smoke.

"YOU GUYS…!!" It started.

I shouted "AWWW!!".

Sakura had her arms in front of her.

Sasuke was shocked and ready to fight if necessary.

"…pass." Kakashi-sensei continued happily and gave a small laugh.

Everyone was shocked… for the third time.

"Pass? But why?" Sakura-chan asked.

"You guys are the first. Everyone else would just do whatever I told them. They were all just morons. A shinobi must see underneath the underneath. Those who break the rules and the codes of the shinobi world are called trash… But you know what? Those who don't take care of their comrades… are lower than trash." Came the reply.

"He's so cool…" I thought.

"That ends the training. All of you pass!!! OK!! Tomorrow Team 7 will begin it's duties!!"

Crying tears of joy, I shouted ecstatically, "YAY!!! I did it! I did it! Shinobi! Shinobi! Shinobi!"

"Let's go." Said Kakashi-sensei.

"God damn it!! I knew this would happen!! Untie me!!!" I shouted angrily, realizing that they didn't bother untying me.

Then I felt the ropes loosen.

I turned and saw Rai holding two ends to the rope, her rabbit was leaning on the log I was tied to.

"Um…Thanks Rai." I said uncertainly as I had never talked to her before.

She was not the type to talk unless talked to. She gave me a little smile before carrying her rabbit in her arms and started walking away.

* * *

Rai P.O.V

* * *

I gave Naruto a little smile before picking up Peter and started walking back home. I lived on the outskirts of Konoha, my house surrounded by trees and a tall metal gate.

The gate was black and at the 'door' there was a symbol. The symbol looked like a 'W' with a short line in between the 'mountain' in the middle, so if you remove the two slanted lines at the side it would form an 'A'. The symbol was placed so that when the gate opened, it would be divided into half.

As I reached the gate, I saw three familiar figures standing in front of it.

"Dee! Dum! Boris!" I shouted happily as I ran towards them.

Three heads turned to face me, each with a big smile on it.

"Onee-san!" Shouted the twins as they ran and hugged me. They half a head shorter than me even thought we were the same age.

Boris was, though, half a head taller than me and older by a year.

* * *

www (dot) mangafox (dot) com (slash) manga (slash) heart_no_kuni_no_alice (slash) v01 (slash) c003 (slash) 31 (dot) html Boris.

www (dot) mangafox (dot) com (slash) manga (slash) heart_no_kuni_no_alice (slash) v01 (slash) c001 (slash) 39 (dot) html Dee and Dum. Dee on the left and Dum on the right.

* * *

But before Boris hugged me, he took Peter away and threw him on the ground.

* * *

Peter P.O.V

* * *

I landed on the ground on my head and rolled a short distance before stopping. Enraged, I turned into my human form held my clock as it turned into a pistol. I aimed at that annoying red cat and fired.

I saw his ears turned and all of them jumped away from the bullet I fired, with Alice in the arms of said cat.

"Oh, the rabbit got jealous." He teased and hugged her tightly.

"Ch." I couldn't shoot that cat without hurting Alice.

"Boris. Release me. _Now_." Alice's sweet yet boyish voice rang in my ears as she said those words.

Unwillingly, the feline released her and she said sternly,"Peter. Keep that gun. _Now_."

I didn't protest as I knew it was useless.

The gun turned back into a clock and let it swing from its chain.

Satisfied, Alice walked to wards the gate and took out the key she wore around her neck. The chain was black and worn under her dress, so it was not very visible.

She unlocked the gate and went in, the rest of us following behind her.

The bloody twins stayed behind to close and lock the gate before running to Alice's side and asked,"So Onee-san, did you pass?"

She smiled nodded her head.

"And we are going to celebrate right?" They continued.

"Of course. And I'm cooking."

The twins threw up their hands and shouted happily.

"So your first mission is tomorrow right?" I asked, running to stand beside Dum, who was to the right of Alice.

She nodded again.

"I wonder if she will let me follow her again tomorrow." I wondered as we walked into the house/mansion.


	3. Chapter 3

Sorry I haven't been updating for a while.

I just realized that I forgot to put the link to the picture of Peter's human form.

This is the link:

www (dot) mangafox (dot) com (slash) manga (slash) heart_no_kuni_no_alice (slash) v01 (slash) c002 (slash) 5 (dot) html

From top to bottom, Ace, Alice, Peter, Vivaldi. (You will know who Ace and Vivaldi is later on in the story. Unless you read the manga or played the game already. Oh and that Alice in the picture is not the Alice in the previous chapter, or Rai if you haven't figure it out yet. You will find out why they are calling Rai Alice later on in the story. Feel free to ask me anything about the story.)

* * *

Rai.P.O.V

I was in a forest, hiding behind a tree, Boris in his cat form beside me. I could hear though the radio that the rest of my teammates are getting into position.

"What's the distance to the target?" Kakashi-sensei asked though the radio.

My radio buzzed before I could hear Naruto's voice, than Sasuke's, than Sakura's.

"Five meters. I'm ready anytime."

"So am I."

"Me too."

"Can we just get it over with?" I said.

I heard a sign and Kakashi-sensei said,"Ok. Go!!"

All of us jumped at the target, Naruto at the back, Sakura on the right, Sasuke on the left and I was in front of it, ready to catch the target.

But it proved unnecessary when Naruto caught the target in a hug. The target cried out with a "Nyaaa!!"

"Ribbon on the left ear… Are you sure this is the target Tora?" Kakashi-sensei asked.

Sasuke replied,"Yeah, we're sure." while Tora started attacking Naruto.

I took Tora away from Naruto and petted her till she calmed down.

"How did you do that?" Naruto asked as Tora started purring.

"Magic." I muttered.

"Come on. We have to return to the cat." Sasuke said as he started walking away.

* * *

At the office where we get missions.

* * *

"Ohh, my cute little Tora-chan. I was so worried." Some chubby lady said happily as she gave her cat the hug-of-doom.

"Poor thing." Boris, was laying on my arms, signed. He was slightly larger than Tora and his fur was red. Like Peter, he worn a smaller version of his regular clothes, his boa looked like a lion's mane and all of his piercing are still there. Imagine the teams' surprise when they saw him that morning.

Of course his words made sense to me but to the others, he sounded like a regular cat.

"Now…Kakashi's Team 7, your next duty is…Hmmm…Babysitting an elder's grandson, shopping in the neighboring village, and help with the potato digging." The other old man said, reading of a small slip of paper.

"NO!! NO!! NO!! No ,thank you!!! I want to do , you know, a more incredible mission!! Find us a better one!!!" A certain hyper-active blond cried out, forming an 'X' with his arms.

I signed, having expected this.

Miraculously, I was able to tune the rest of the conversation out.

Unfortunately, I was not able to tune out Naruto's voice. Probably because I was just next to him.

"But you know what?!! I'm not the trouble-making brat you still think I am!!!" He shouted.

At his words, I saw the Hokage smiled a little.

"Ok. If you want it that much, I'll give you a C-rank mission. It's a protection mission of a certain individual." He said calmly.

"Who?!! Who?!! A feudal lord?!! A princess?!!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Calm down. I'm about to introduce him. Hey, will you come in here?" The Hokage asked.

The door sledded open to reveal an old man drinking a bottle of alcohol.

"What's this? They're all a bunch of super brats. Especially the shortest one with the stupid-looking face and the one wearing a dress. Are you two really ninjas?"

I hate him already.

Naruto stupidly asked,"Who's the shortest one with the stupid face…." HIs sentence faded at the end when he realized the truth.

"I'll kill you!!" Naruto tried to run towards him but the one-eyed old man caught him.

"What's the point of killing the person we are suppose to protect? Idiot!" Kakashi-sensei scolded.

The _other_ old man introduced himself as the expert bridge builder Tazuna.

I am so going to regret doing this mission.

* * *

F.F to the village gates.

* * *

"Weapons." I whispered to Boris, who was in the black bag I was carrying. It was a simple bag that closed in the middle, provided enough space on both sides for easy access. Of course, Boris was there to make sure no one steals anything from it.

There was movement from the bag before the reply came.

"Check."

"Clothes."

"Check."

"Books."

"And check. Was the books really necessary?" Boris asked, his head peeping from the space on the left.

"Yes." I replied, gently pushing his head back in.

Naruto got excited about leaving the village while Tazuna doubt his abilities as a ninja.

This became an argument I tuned out as we started walking, me being on the left of Sakura.

When I started listening again, Kakashi-sensei was giving a lesson about the Five Nations, then something about the other three Genin doubting the Hokage.

When they were talking about meeting other ninjas, Tazuna looked away.

Boris hissed,"Al…Rai. The ground."

I looked down, thankful that Boris is starting to call me Rai. It tend to irritate me when they call me Alice. I noticed a puddle of water on the ground.

"Water? It hasn't rain for the past few days." I sniffed the air lightly. "This scent… "

I turned back when the two scents became more noticeable, just in time to see Kakashi-sensei tied up in chains. The two ends of the chains were each held by two ninjas clad in black. They tugged on the chain, ripping Kakashi-sensei into three parts. There were shouts from the others, but I tried to ignore it.

"Stay clam. Focus on the enemy." I thought to myself. "He's a jonin. He's probably hiding in some tree. The enemy's scent…" In the second I spend thinking, the two ninjas had appeared behind Naruto. I caught their scent and turned, but I was too late. With my above-average hearing, I could hear one of them say "Two down,".

"Naruto!" I shouted, running towards him, a kunai in each hand.

Sasuke, who was closer to Naruto than me, ran and jumped into the air. Using a shirican and a kunai, he pinned the chain to a tree and landed on their heads. Grabbing the arms that were connected to the chain, he pushed his weight forward, kicking both ninjas back, and twisted their arms which snapped the part of the chain that was connected to their metal-covered hands. They were released and recovered quickly, one going after Naruto, the other after Tazuna.

"Perfect. I was dying for a fight." I smiled, running towards Tazuna and got into a fighting stance, with Sakura beside me.

"Get back old man!" I said but Sakura's louder voice covered mine.

I got ready to attack but (I'm using a lot of buts in this chapter) Sasuke threw himself in front of us, probably trying to protect us.

As the enemy ninja neared, a very familiar one-eyed jonin appeared, easily defeating him.

"Of course. He used…Kawarimi." Boris said, sounding weird. I put down my bag, kneeled beside it and opened it to reveal a motion-sicken cat. With a sigh, I picked him up and place him on the ground. I closed my bag and carried it before picking Boris up, using my arms to create a cradle where he laid. I quickly when to where the rest are.

Kakashi-sensei tied up the Mist nInjas and said," These look like HIdden Mist Chuunins. These shinobis are known to continue fighting no matter what."

"How did you read our movements?" One of the Chuunin asked.

"On a sunny day like this when it hasn't rained in days, there's not going to be a puddle."

"Tazuna asked why Kakashi-sensei let us fight, using brats to refer to us.

"If I had wanted to I could have killed these two instantly but… There was something I needed to find out. Who these two were after."

"What do you mean?"

"Meaning… Were they after you, or one of us. We haven't heard that there are shinobis after you. Our mission was to simply protect you from thieves or gangs. This has now become at least a B-rank mission. This was suppose to be simple protection until you completed the bridge."

Tazuna signed.

"If it was known that ninjas were after you, this mission would have been set as the more expensive B-rank. I'm sure you had a reason, but it causes problems when you lie about the mission. We are now operating outside of our duties."

"We aren't ready for this mission. Let's quit! We will need medicine for Naruto's wound. We should go back to the village and take him to a doctor." Sakura suggested.

Kakashi-sensei considered it for a while before deciding that it might be to much for us to handle and should return or the village to treat Naruto.

Then, all of a sudden, Naruto stabbed his already injured hand.


	4. Chapter 4

Sorry for the delay. Blame the exams. Plus my laziness. And my addiction to Majin Tantei Nougami Neuro. Its a nice manga.

Any way, on with the story!

* * *

Naruto's P.O.V

* * *

"Why is there so much of a difference? Why am I always... Damn it!"

"Naruto! What are you doing?" Someone shouted.

"I should be becoming stronger... I've completed many missions and even practice jutsu everyday by myself." I thought, remembering the past.

"I'm not going to need saving ever again… I'm not going to be afraid and try to run… I won't lose to Sasuke… I swear it to this pain in my left hand." My hand started shaking form the pain, but I stopped it.

"With this kunai… I'll protect the old man. We're continuing the mission!" I said confidently as I turned to face them.

* * *

Rai P.O.V

* * *

"That idiot." I smiled a little as I thought that.

"Naruto… It's good that you are releasing the poison but… Anymore and you will die from lack of blood. Seriously." A slivered-haired jonin said happily.

Naturally, Naruto started panicking.

"No! That's bad! I can't die from something like this!"

"Let me see your hand."

Sakura asked Naruto if he was a masochist but he was too busy panicking to answer.

After bandaging Naruto's hand, Tazuna called him over to talk to him. He mention about Gatou and how the bridge he was building was in the way of his plan for the Wave country.

Oh he also managed to pursue Kakashi-sensei to let us continue the mission by using Kakashi-sensei's consciences against him.

After some walking, we went on a boat to continue our way to Tazuna's house.

Seeing that there was not enough space on the boat for all of us, I had to share the same seat, bench, what-ever you want to call it, with Sasuke. Boris, who had already recovered from my fast-movement-induced-motion-sickness, was pacing up and down, finally making his way back to my bag because, quote Boris,"The mist is making me fell cold."

Some excuse that was. Anyway, I took out a book and started reading.

"My True Self. Looks interesting." I turned and looked at a raven-haired boy and replied, smiling, "Its a nice book. It helped me at a point in time."

I returned to the written pages while Sasuke tried figuring out what I said.

Soon, we reached the Wave country. Most of the houses we saw first was built on top of water and there was a lot of trees around.

"It feels nice to be surround by trees." I thought as I kept my book.

Naruto started throwing weapons in what appears to be random directions. On the second throw, he hit something. Kakashi-sensei looked into the bush and found a white rabbit with a shuriken embedded in its head.

"White? It's spring so the rabbit should be brown. Unless…" I muttered.

Boris finished the sentence for me. "Its a rabbit kept for the purpose of body switching."

Not good.

"Run…away…" The wind blew pass my face gently, carrying with it the words of the forest as well as its own.

"Everyone get down!" I snapped to attention when I heard Kakashi-sensei shouted and ducked.

A large blade spun over my head and cut deeply into a tree. I looked at the man who just landed on the handle of the sword.

He had bandages covering his mouth and nose, like Kakashi-sensei, was shirtless and had a pair of striped pants on. There were some weird things on his arms and legs that looked like a longer version of white-and-black arm warmers.

"Well well, if it isn't the Hidden Mist's Missing -Nin Momochi Zabuza-kun." Kakashi-sensei introduced him.

Naruto tried to fight him head-on but Kakashi-sensei stopped him.

"Everybody get back. This one's on a whole other level." Kakashi-sensei lifted his hitai-ate that covered his left eye a little. "It will be a little tough unless I do this…"

Zabuza said, "You appear to be sharingan Kakashi. Sorry but… the old man is mine.

"Sharingan Kakashi, the Copy-Cat Ninja. Of course Zabuza would know him. He's famous for having the sharingan despite not being a Uchiha."

"Thanks for stating the obvious Boris."

"My pleasure."

"Surround and protect Tazuna-san. Do not enter the fight. That's the teamwork here. Zabuza, first…" Kakashi-sensei lifted the hitai-ate up so that it was parallel to the ground, "Fight me."

"Ah…I already get to see the famous sharingan. I'm honored."

Naruto butted in, asking what the hell is sharingan.

The expert on that answered that question, with Zabuza telling the most scariest thing about it, its ability to copy the opponent's techniques once it is seen.

Zabuza then talked about Kakashi-sensei being in his bingo book and that he copied 1000 jutsus.

"Now…Let's end all the talking. I have to kill that old man."

Immediately, the four of us rushed to protect Tazuna.

"But… Kakashi! It seems I have to beat you first."

Zabuza took his sword and leaped to the lake that I somehow failed to noticed.

"Ninpou… Hidden Mist no Jutsu." I heard him say.

Mist started appearing and surrounded us.

"He's gone!" Sakura shouted.

"He'll come after me first. Momochi Zabuza… As a member of the Hidden Mist he was known as an expert in silent killing. You don't even notice until you're already dead. It's not like I can use the sharingan perfectly. You guys be careful." Kakashi warned.

I could tell all of us were tensed.

"The mist is getting thicker!" Naruto shouted.

"8 choices." I heard Zabuza said. "Liver, lungs, spine, clavicle vein, neck vein, brain, kidneys, heart. Which one should I go after?"

Suddenly, the killing intent form both jonins was so thick that even Boris was shivering. I looked to my right and saw Sasuke trembling.

"Can't blame the poor boy. My guess even an inexperience jonin would be trembling too." Boris said, his voice shaking.

Kakashi noticed and comforted him by saying he won't let a comrade die.

"We'll see about that."

I immediately turned and saw Zabuza.

"It's over."

At once, everybody scattered while Kakashi rushed in and stopped Zabuza's attack.

"Sensei! Behind you!" Naruto shouted.

Kakashi turned around only to be slashed into two by the another Zabuza.

The two pieces turned into water almost immediately, which shocked him enough to get him to let his guard down for Kakashi to appear behind him unnoticed, holding a kunai at his neck.

"It's over." I heard the Copy-Cat nin said.

Then Zabuza started laughing.

"Hehehe… It's over? You don't get it. There's no way you can defeat me with your monkey-like imitations." He said. "Hehe… That was impressive of you. At that time you had already copied my Water Clone no Jutsu…"

"You had your clone say those words to attract my attention while the real you hid in the mist and watched me. Nice plan." Kakashi replied.

"But…" Zabuza appeared behind Kakashi with a kunai against his neck. "I'm also not that easy."

The Zabuza in front of Kakashi turned into water.

"That one's a fake too?" Naruto shouted.

The both of them fought for a while and Zabuza kicked Kakashi into the lake.

"He's strong." I thought.

Kakashi seemed to have some problem getting out of the water. Zabuza appeared behind him and used some jutsu to trap him in a ball of water.

"You may have been trying to escape to the water, but that was a big mistake." Zabuza laughed. "I now have you in my inescapable special prison. It makes things tougher if you can move, you know. Now… Kakashi, we'll finish things later. First I'll take care of them."

He made a seal with his hand and made a water clone.

"Hehe, wearing forehead protecters and acting like real shinobis… But you know what? A real shinobi is someone who has survived numerous brushes with death. Basically… Once you're good enough to be listed in my handbook then you can start calling yourself a shinobi. You guys should not be referred to as shinobis."

Then he disappeared and kicked Naruto away, knocking his headband off at the sametime.

"Just a brat." The real Zabuza said.

"You guys! Take Tazuna-san and run away! You have no chance of beating him! As long as he's keeping me trapped in this prison he can't move! The water clone cannot go very far from his real body! Just run away now!"

I turned my attention to Naruto, who was standing back up. In a blink, he started running towards the clone, only to be kicked back.

Sakura shouted, "What are you doing jumping in all by yourself? We genin have no chance against him!"

I looked at what Naruto was holding as he stood up.

He was holding his hitai-ate in his injured hand.

"Hey…you eyebrowless freak. Put this in your handbook. The man who will one day become Hokage…" He put on his hitai-ate."Leaf Village shinobi… Uzumaki Naruto!"

"He's grown. Right Boris?"

"It seems so. He's not the boy from when the Demon Bothers attack."

Naruto said," Sasuke! Rai! Lend me your ears! I have a plan."

"Pft…Teamwork from you?"

"I'm listening."

"Now…" He turned to face the Mist nin. "Let's get wild."


	5. Chapter 5

Rai P.O.V

* * *

"Do you stand a chance? A lot of arrogance but…" Said Mist shinobi trailed off.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING? RUN AWAY! THIS FIGHT WAS OVER THE MOMENT I WAS CAUGHT! OUR DUTY IS TO PROTECT TAZUNA-SAN! DID YOU FORGET THAT?" Our jonin leader shouted.

"Old man?" Naruto asked.

"Well… I planted this seed myself. I'm not going to say that I desire to live so much that I'd stop you. I'm sorry guys… Fight as much as you want."

"Pft. You hear that?" A raven-haired boy said.

"Are you ready?" Naruto said, turning back to face the Mist nin.

Then he started laughing.

"You guys will never grow up."

"What?" Naruto shouted.

"Going to keep 'playing' ninja, eh? When I… When I was about your age… These hands were already dyed red with blood."

That drew several shocked expressions.

Kakashi muttered,"Devil… Zabuza…"

"Ah… So you've heard a little about it."

"Long ago, in the Hidden Mist village, also called the Blood Mist village, there was a final obstacle becoming a ninja." Kakashi explained.

"Hm… You even know about that graduation exam."

"That exam?" Naruto asked cautiously.

Zabuza laughed.

"What's this graduation exam thing?"

He continued, sounding more amused by the second.

All of a sudden, he looked up and said,"Fights to the death between the students."

I looked away, remembering things I desperately want to forget.

"Friends who have trained and eaten at the same table are pitted against each other and go at it until one of them loses his life. These are friends who had helped each other and shared dreams."

"…Terrible…" Sakura whispered.

Kakashi continued form where Zabuza stopped.

"10 years ago, the Hidden Mist graduation exam was forced to change. This change came after the previous year… When a devil appeared."

"Change? What change? What did the devil do?" Sakura asked.

"Without pause or hesitation, a young boy who was not even a ninja… had killed over a hundred of the students."

"That…sure was fun." Devil Zabuza laughed, his eyes narrowing.

They turned to us and I got into a fighting stance.

The water clone suddenly attacked Sasuke, sending him flying through the air.

He then followed up by slamming Sasuke against the ground with his fore arm, causing him to cough out blood.

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura shouted.

"Die." Said the clone, treading on him.

* * *

Naruto P.O.V

* * *

The eyebrow-less freak's clone stepped on Sasuke and said "Die."

"Damn it!" I thought, making the seal for Kage Bunshin.

A flying raven-black bag smacked me in the face.

I caught it in my arms and looked up just in time to see the owner of the ebony bag running at the clone with no weapons in hand.

There were three cries, all with the same word.

"RAI!"

"Hn. Foolish little girl." The clone said, sword in hand.

He swung it to the side, intending to cut her torso in half.

She ducked and grabbed the side of the sword as it passed.

Kicking of the ground, I saw a flash of silver on the heel of her boot as she threw forward her right leg to hit his face.

The clone moved his head backwards and twisted the sword sharply. As the sword was her only support, the sharp, sudden twist made her lose her grip and the girl fell to the ground.

"Like I said. You're all just playing ninja."

He picked Rai up by the neck. Her hands were trying to get him to loosen his grip, her short and sharp-looking nails digging into his skin, drawing little droplets of blood.

He laughed at her fable attempt.

I didn't see the fatal movement. If I did and recovered from the shock of her attack faster, it probably would never happen.

A large blade protruded from her back, cutting through where her heart was supposed to be.

When I noticed her wide eyes and the blood that ran from her mouth to her chin, I knew it was too late.

* * *

Its so short! Sorry! But I wrote this in school so I had to be quick. I promise that the next chapter would be longer!


	6. Chapter 6

Rai P.O.V

* * *

White… Everything was white… But, wasn't it red before?

Why?...What happened?

Warm… It's warm, a good kind of warm…

Shapes… A lot of shapes…

Blurred images…

A duck's butt…

...

...

...Wait. A duck's butt?

I sat up quickly and immediately regretted it. Trying to overcome the 'mild' discomfort, I looked around to take my mind off it.

I saw the two old men, one laying on a futon a little distance away towards my right, the other sitting cross-legged on the floor. I also saw my three other teammates and a lady I didn't recognize sitting between me and the jonin leader.

The lady had long black hair that reached her waist and was wearing some sort of t-shirt and a black skirt.

"Rai! Your awake!" A certain blond shouted.

A fist landed hard on his head, resulting in a large, comical bump.

"Shut up Naruto! You heard what Hikaru said! She needs to rest! Your shouting would disturb her!"

"Sakura, I think your shouting would have a much larger effect on Rai's inability to rest."

I looked up to see who made that last comment… and saw an old friend walking in with Boris, who immediately ran over to me and made himself at home on my lap.

"Sirius!" I exclaimed.

Everybody looked at me funnily.

I covered my 'big' mouth with both my hands, a light blush appearing on my pale cheeks.

"So he was telling the truth." The person whose hairstyle I mistook for a bird's behind said quietly.

I turned my head towards him, blush gone, head crooking to the side, looking like a curious bird.

The lady introduced herself, "My name is Tsunami and the boy you call Sirius is Hikaru."

"Your teammates bought you to Tazuna's house half dead. It was lucky that Sakura was able to wrap your wounds tight enough to prevent you from dying of blood loss but you still lost a lot of blood. Zabuza's sword just missed your heart, which explains why your still alive." Sirius explained.

"Hey Rai, why did you call him Sirius? How did you know him?" Naruto asked, nursing his injury.

"Sirius and I known each other since we were children. Sirius is his nickname."

"One I don't really like." He added in with a smile. I examine his features, making sure he is the boy form long ago.

Long light-blue hair that almost looked white tied into a low ponytail, blue-green eyes, black pupils, a black hoodie and black pants.

Definitely him.

"When we came into the house, Tsunami saw you and Kakashi-sensei and freaked. Hikaru came running, asking what's wrong. He had a towel on his head, so we could not see his hair. The both of you look so alike that we mistook him for you!" Sakura said.

"This isn't the first time though. We used to play pranks by pretending to be each other. And I guess, with all the time we spent together the way I dress rubbed off on him. " I laughed.

"But Rai, your hair color is different. How could they mistook you for Hikaru ?" Tsunami asked.

"Shit! I forgot they didn't know about that!" I thought, trying to think of an answer.

"One of us would use the Henge No Jutsu and we would act as if we were each other." Sirius answered smoothly.

I nodded my head, thanking him silently for the save.

"Hey old man, what happened after I almost died?" I asked Kakashi.

"Rai, I'm your senior. At least call me by my name." He signed.

"I kicked Zabuza's ass that what happened!" Naruto shouted.

That earned another hit on the head.

"Naruto freed Kakashi-sensei from the prison and Kakashi-sensei got Zabuza pinned to a tree when a Hunter-nin threw two senbon and struck him in the neck. Kakashi-sensei checked and confirmed that Zabuza's dead." Sakura explained.

I nodded, absorbing the information.

"A Hunter-nin huh?"

"Anyway, both of you need to rest so the rest of you didn't disturb them." Sirius ordered.

He gave both of us something sweet to drink to help us sleep.

I fell asleep almost instantly.

The last thing I remembered was the feeling of soft paws making its way to the side of my head and the soft fur I felt against my face.

* * *

Kakashi P.O.V

* * *

I woke up suddenly, giving Naruto and Sakura a scare.

"Oh, Kakashi-sensei, you're awake." Tsunami said as she walked in to the room. Tazuna was sitting between the two futons laid out on the floor, Sasuke was sitting in front of a wall and the two who got a scare were at he foot of my futon.

"What's this?" I thought to myself. "Zabuza is dead… What's this feeling? I fell like I'm missing something very important… No… Something is strange. Could I have missed something?"

Naruto asked me what's wrong.

"Huh? Well… Body erasing teams usually dispose of the body of the person they killed right there."

"So what?" Sakura said.

"Don't you see? How did that masked boy dispose of Zabuza's body?"

"How do we know? That masked guy took the body with him."

"Yeah… If he needed proof of his work, he could have just taken the head. And the weapon that he used to kill Zabuza."

"…No way." Sasuke said, having caught my drift.

"Yeah… Exactly."

"What are you guys talking about?" Tazuna-san asked.

"Most likely…" I began, "…Zabuza is alive!"


	7. Chapter 7

Sasuke P.O.V

* * *

Naruto shouted, "What the hell do you mean?"

Sakura followed up, "Kakashi-sensei, you checked and said he was dead!"

"Yeah, I did…" He replied. "But that was most likely just a momentary death."

"The needle weapon that Hunter-nin used, unless it hits a vital organ, has a low probability in killing your opponent. It's an item even used by doctors in acupuncture therapy. Hunter-nins know about the body' structure thoroughly. Putting a person in a momentary dead state is probably easy for them." Kakashi explained.

"First, he carried away the body of the much heavier Zabuza. Second, he used a weapon that has a low probability of killing. These 2 points indicate that his motive was… Not to kill Zabuza but to save him. we can't ignore that possibility." He concluded.

Tazuna was not very convinced.

"Aren't you thinking too much? Hunter-nins are suppose to kill Missing-nins."

"No… With all the suspicion we will prepare before it's too late. That's a shinobi rule. Plus, whether Zabuza is dead or alive… There's no assurances that Gatou hasn't hired an even stronger shinobi."

"Sensei, what do you mean preparing before it's too late? You can barely move." Sakura asked.

"Hehe…" Kakashi laughed. "With the exception of Rai, all of you will receive training."

"Huh? Training? Sensei! What's a little training going to do? Our enemy is a shinobi you struggled against even with the sharing!"

"Sakura… Who saved me while I was struggling? You guys are growing rapidly. Especially Naruto! You've improved the most." He complimented.

"But obviously…" He continued. "This is just training until I get better, you won't be able to defeat him without me."

"But Sensei, if Zabuza is alive he could attack at anytime, so should we be training?" Sakura asked.

"About that… A person put on a momentary death situation should take a while before their body returns to normal."

"So we train until then! Sounds like a lot of fun!" Our team's blond commented.

"That's not fun." A little boy appeared at the door and said.

"Ohh! Inari! Where were you?" Tazana shouted.

Inari welcomed him back.

"Inari, say hello to these people. They are the ninjas who protected Granpa."

He looked at us for a while. "Mom. They are going to die."

"What did you say, you little brat!"Naruto yelled.

"There's no way you can win against Gatou."

"You brat! I'll-!"

Sakura held him back while saying, "Why are you getting pissed at a child? Idiot!"

"Hey Inari! Listen! I am a super hero who will one day become an incredible shinobi called Hokage! I don't know this Gatou guy but he's nothing against me!"

"Pft… What are you, stupid? There's no such thing as a hero! And besides, how can you become an incredible shinobi if you almost let your friend there die?" He pointed to Rai. "If you don't want to die, you should leave…"

"Where are you going, Inari?" Tazana asked.

"To look at the ocean from my room."

Tazana apologized, seemingly on behalf of Inari.

"Speaking of Rai, I was sure all that shouting would have woken her up." Kakashi said, looking at Rai sleeping body.

"She's not going to wake up for quite a while, no matter how loud an argument Naruto makes."

I turned and saw Hikaru opening the door and being almost ran over by Naruto who left the room quickly.

"What do you mean Hikaru? Kakashi-sensei drank the same drink but he woke up just fine." Sakura asked.

"That drink Rai drank is different from the one Kakashi, if you don't mind if I call you that."

Kakashi gestured for him to continue.

"Knowing Rai, she probably try and do something that might reopen the wound when she wakes up, so I gave her a stronger sleeping concoction." He finished with a smile. "An added bonus is that, when she wakes up, she would have a massive headache."

I knew all of us in the room were thinking of the same thing.

"Is he trying to protect or hurt her?"

"Anyways, aren't you going to train?" Hikaru asked.

"Yeah. I trust Rai is in good hands?"

"I would die than let her get hurt again when she's in this condition."

"Thanks." Kakashi replied. He tried to stand but couldn't.

Hikaru disappeared behind the door and appeared with two crutches. He helped Kakashi up and handed him the crutches.

"Well, let's go already!" Naruto shouted as he entered the room, apparently having heard our conversation.

He hurried every able-bodied shinobi out the door ginning happily, Boris tagging along. Or probably just looking out for scrapes to eat.

* * *

Hikaru P.O.V

* * *

I saw the door shut as the Konoha shinobis left.

I waited for about half a minute before calling out "All clear."

A certain 'sleeping' girl rose into a sitting position.

"My head hurts so badly that even though I want to hit you so hard your soul comes out I can't."

"Defensive measures. Purely in self-defense." I raised my hands up, palms facing her.

"Beside, Rai," My tone became cold and serious. "That was very reckless. You could have died. If you died I would have to marry you-know-who."

"Always looking on the bright side, right Sirius?" Sarcasm was dripping out of her words like a waterfall.

"You still owe me one for saving you."

"Yeah yeah." She waved her right hand around carelessly.

"So… Sing."

"Wh-?"

I leapt forward and covered her mouth, muffling the rest of what ever she wanted to say.

"Sing and you don't owe me anymore." I said happily.

"Fou faik vevil." She muttered into my hand.

In instant I felt stinging pain coming from four different points on the hand covering her mouth.

"Ouch." I removed my hand and licked the four scratch marks on the back. They healed immediately.

Rai held her hand up like those fortune cats found in some shops, each of her sharp, claw-like nails had a sliver of red on the underside.

"Nya."

"Feisty as always." I sat beside Rai's futon.

"Your fault." She licked the blood of her nails. "What are you doing here anyway? Your not the type to travel, especially to a poor country like the Hidden Waves."

"When I heard you're going on a mission here, I immediately packed and came. I even asked to stay in this household when I heard your client lived here so you better be grateful."

"I'm grateful so spill."

I signed.

"They started again. The attacks. It won't be long before they find you."

Her eyes narrowed and became the same shade of blue-green as mine, her tone as cold as mine. "I'll like to see them try and hurt me."

"It's not you I'm worried about Rai. Its those friends of yours. If they find out-"

"They won't." She interrupted, closing her eyes and tilted her head back so her closed eyes faced the ceiling. "I will make sure of that."

"Good luck with that. They managed to find and destroy one of my most heavily guarded and the most solitary house. They will find you someday so don't get too attach to _them_ or leaving would be difficult."

I pointed with my thumb at the closed door for good measures.

Her head tilted forward as much as possible, her face was hidden by her hair. Even though it was hidden, I could feel her ice-cold glare directed at me.

"Get attached to old man Tazuna's family? Believe me I won't."

"You know what I'm talking about Rai. If you get too emotionally attached to those Konoha shinobis, you might get careless and reveal yourself. Remember what happened the last time? At the Hidden Mist Shinobi Academy? You got careless and caused one heck of a commotion there."

"It won't happen again, Sirius. I promise. Besides, the only witness to the massacre was one of us. So no real damage done." Her tone became soft and her glare became a stare that was directed at her hands that were on her lap.

"You said 'I won't expose us'. Now our alias Yume and Haru are on every wanted poster in the Hidden Mist." I signed. "Just be careful, okay Rai?"

"Kay."

* * *

Second chapter in a week! =D


	8. Chapter 8

NOTICE! PLEASE READ! If you have any info on Heart No Kuni No Alice, please share those info with me! I have only the manga for reference and I'm not sure if the info from the sites I found are true. Please help me! Info on the Dormouse and Joker will be very much appreciated!

* * *

Rai P.O.V

* * *

There was a tease silence fate our last exchange of words.

"Hikaru!"

Tsunami appeared at the door.

"Ah Rai! Your awake!" Her attention turned to Sirius. "Hikaru, could you help me dinner?"

"Of course." He turned to me. "Don't even try to leave this room."

I lifted my head, faking a smile. "Do you honestly think that I wouldn't leave the minute you step out of the room?"

He signed and left the room only to reappear with a wheelchair.

I felt my eye twitch. "A wheelchair? Can't I get a pair of whatever you gave Kakashi? And where the hell did you get these things?"

"Its either this or the futon."

"The wheelchair." I answered immediately.

After getting me into the wheelchair, I realized that I can't really get around easily.

"You planned this, didn't you?"

Sirius laughed and walked to the kitchen.

"Hey wait! Sirius!" I tired to roll, then discovered that its impossible for me to roll down the steps.

"I knew it! You did plan this!"

He only laughed.

After endless persuading and screaming for him to get me those crutches and off the accursed wheelchair, he finally gave in.

I hobbled into the kitchen where Tsunami and the Dog* was preparing dinner, Boris came running to me when he saw me. He wasn't asking any questions on how I felt so I assumed that Sirius told him that I'll be fine.

"Tsunami, could I help you?"

"But your injured! I can't let a injured person make dinner!"

"It isn't much." I insisted. "And I haven't been very useful so this is the only way I can help."

Sirius coughed behind me, unsuccessfully hiding a laugh. I knocked him to the ground with one of the crutches. That should teach him.

In the end, she let me help with dinner.

When the rest of the team came back, all of us except Tsunami sat at the table and ate, me sneaking food to Boris every now and then. Naruto and Sasuke were having some sort of competition.

They wolfed down their food and asked for more at the same time. Then they felt sick at the same time. Followed by barfing at the same time.

Weird.

Sakura slammed the table and shouted, "If you're going to throw up then stop eating!"

"She does have a point." I said.

"No, I must eat." Sasuke said.

"Yeah, we have to no matter what. Because we have to become stronger." Naruto said.

"Yeah you need to eat but you don't need to eat till you barf. The food wouldn't be digested anyway if you barf it all out." I thought to myself.

After dinner, Sakura asked why was a torn picture on the wall. That made drew a reaction from Tazuna and his family. Sakura carried on saying that Inari was staring at the picture during dinner and that it seems like somebody purposely removed the person that was in the picture.

"It's my husband…" Tsunami said.

"The man called the hero of the city…" Tazuna said.

At that moment Inari left the table.

"Inari, where are you going?" Tsunami asked. She shouted his name when he didn't respond. Before leaving the room, she shouted, "Father! I have told you not to talk about that man in front of Inari!"

There was a pause before Sakura asked what's wrong with Inari.

"There seems to be some kind of explanation." Kakashi said.

Tazuna launched into some tragic story about the man called Kaiza, how he helped Inari and the whole country, how he was killed in front of that country he loved by Gatou.

After hearing the story, Naruto left the table but fell. Sirius went to him instantaneously to help him.

"If you're thinking of training, take the day off. You're released too much chakra, anymore and you could die." Kakashi said.

He stood up without help and said that he wanted to prove that heros do exist in this world.

"He's got a death wish that boy." I thought as Sirius cleared the table.

In the morning, we found out that Naruto didn't return that night.

Tazuna asked, "Naruto didn't come back last night?"

"He's been climbing trees all alone since he heard your story." Sakura replied. "He may have used too much charka and died by now."

"I hope he's alright. A child all alone at night in the woods." Tsunami commented.

"Don't worry!' Kakashi said. "He might not look it, but he's a true shinobi.

"I don't know… It wouldn't surprise me if he was dead… That moron…" Sasuke chimed in. He left the table and said, "I'm going to train."

"Could I come too?" I asked.

"Rai, your still injured. And your not fit to leave the house." Sirius said. "Your wound might reopen when your out and… Well you might die!"

"Fine. I won't go. And I hate the way it makes sense." I grumbled.

On the seventh morning of training, Sirius declared me fit to leave the house. My wound was now just a faint scar thanks to Sirius's medication and my enhanced healing ability and I could walk without any aid.

I followed Kakashi and Sakura to the forest where they trained. There were three trees that had multiple scratches in the bark. I stood between the both of them.

"Where is Naruto?" Kakashi asked.

"He left again by himself last night." Sakura answered. "He's missing breakfast. Plus Sasuke goes off on a walk and doesn't come back…"

A kunai stabbed the ground in front of me.

We all looked up and saw Naruto laying on the first branch up the tree, which was quite high up.

"He can already climb that high?" Sakura said in awe.

"What do you think? Look how high I can climb now!"

"That's great Naruto!" I shouted back.

There was silence.

"What? Did I do something wrong?"

"N-No… It's just…You never shouted before and… Well it's just surprising." Sakura explained.

"Ok…"

I heard a 'whoa' and looked up at Naruto. He was standing up but was losing his balance.

"AHH! Idiot!"

"Oh no! If you fall from that height…!"

Naruto seemingly fell backwards, shouting.

Sakura just screamed while Kakashi looked as if he wanted to help but couldn't.

Naruto then stood on the underside of the branch and yelled "Just kidding!"

"HA HA! You fell for it!"

"You scared me idiot!" Sakura shouted.

Naruto's feet left the wood.

That's not good. Kakashi seemed to noticed but Sakura just shouted for him to stop showing off.

He screamed. Sasuke appeared out of nowhere and grabbed Naruto's leg, standing where Naruto was ago.

"YAY! Sasuke! you're the best!"

Goddess! Fangirls got to stop shouting so loudly.

"Rai," Kakashi said as the two genins off the ground returned to it."Hikaru said you're almost healed completely. So could you-"

"Do whatever they were doing? Sure, why not?"

My teammates looked at me. Naruto pointed at me and demanded,"Who are you and what have you done to Rai?"

"So its not right for me to be warmer to the three of you?" I snapped.

"NO! I mean its better your warmer but the sudden change is-"

"Too much to take in? In case you haven't notice I tried to be warmer to the four of you the whole week. Its not a sudden change dope."

"Hey! Don't call me a dope! Kakashi-sensei said I was the most improved!"

"That was being a shinobi. In the terms of smarts, I win hands down."

"Prove it!"

I started on one of my many rants about completely useless stuff that even Sirius couldn't understand sometime. At the end of my ten minute rant, all other shinobi besides me stared at me blankly.

"Like I said. I win hands down." Having said that I ran up a tree, reached the top and ran down.

"And it looks like I win when it comes to being a shinobi too." I left the other four in the clearing and returned to the house.

* * *

Sasuke P.O.V

* * *

"AHHH!" A certain dope yelled. "Since when did Rai became so mean?"

"Who cares."

"That's right! Who cares about Rai? You're so smart Sasuke!"

Kakashi coughed and suggested that we go back now that training for the day was done.

Back at the house, I went upstairs to the room all of the Konoha shinobis are sharing.

"-Feel bad about this Sirius."

I stopped. That was Rai's voice. I decided to eavesdrop on what ever conversation was going on.

"You're too soft-hearted Rai. That's way I told you not to go to Konoha. Remember that you're doing this to protect them, not hurt them." Hikaru said.

"Why would Hikaru tell Rai not to go to Konoha? Sure she only came a little over a year ago but what's wrong with coming to Konoha?" I thought.

"But I'm hurting them to protect them." She hiccuped. Realization dawned on me.

Rai was crying.

She continued. "I still hurt them." I heard her took a deep breath to clam her shaky voice. "I hate this… Why isn't an alternative? Like tell th-"

"No." Hikaru cut in sharply. "That would put them in even more danger than before."

I stood there motionless. What were they talking about? What secret were they hiding?

Just then, I heard heavy footsteps coming up the stairs.

"Hey Sas-"

I let forward and covered the dope's mouth. He was glaring at me and struggling to get free.

"Shush!" I whispered. Straining my ears, I heard the two in the room moving. No doubt they heard the dope. Seeing that it would be impossible for them to continue their conversation, I released Naruto and heeded downstairs, him walking behind me, surprisingly having enough common sense to not ask me any questions until we reached the kitchen.

"What was that about?" He asked, surprising me by not shouting it.

"Something we have to tell Kakashi." I searched for him and found him and Sakura in the kitchen.

"Kakashi, I have something to tell you." He turned and faced Naruto and me. I gestured him to follow me. I walked out of the house so that nobody could eavesdrop on us. Once satisfied, I recounted the conversation between Rai and Hikaru.

When I was done, Kakashi said,"I thought that there was something off about her so I did some research about her. The information I got from the her records are sketchy but I managed to discover that Rai came to Konoha as a refugee because her clan were at war a few years ago. I asked about and, at that time, there was not a single war between any of the known clans."

Sakura gasped. "That means Rai lied right? But why?"

"I'm not too sure myself about her intentions for coming to Konoha but I've discovered something interesting that happened around the time she came to Konoha. A few days ago before Rai came, a neighboring clan's last surviving member of the royal family disappeared. The records didn't state her name though but they have a picture of her. She had very light blue hair that looks suspiciously like Hikaru's, around the age of 13 and has red eyes. The royal family was killed in a fire with the exception of this princess. With her gone, the clan now has no leader and is in a state of confusion. I have reason to believe that Rai is that disappeared princess."

"What! That's impossible!" Sakura shouted. Good thing I chose an isolated spot to have this conversation. "She doesn't even match your description."

"She could dye her hair, wear contacts and change her name. For all we know she could be. That's why I have decided to give you three a B-ranked mission. You are to find out the truth she's hiding and the lies she told. Take as much time as you need but do it inconspicuously. We don't what her to notice us prying."

"Hai Kakashi/Kakashi-sensei!"

And we headed back to Tazuna's house as if nothing has happened.

* * *

*Sirius meanings something along the line of 'the dog star'.


	9. Chapter 9

Sorry for the slow update and the short chapter!

* * *

Rai P.O.V

* * *

The next night after my conversation with Sirius, everybody sat down to dinner. Well everybody except Naruto and Sasuke. Those two have been training since morning and haven't returned.

Just then, the door opened, revealing two worn out shinobis.

"What's this? You guys look super dirty and worn out." Tazuna asked.

"Hehe… Both of us… made it to the top." Naruto replied for the both of them.

"All right!" Kakashi started. "Naruto, Sasuke. Starting tomorrow you two will also help protect Tazuna-san."

Naruto replied with an enthusiastic 'OK!'.

They took their seats, Naruto between Kakashi and Sakura, Sasuke between me and Tazuna.

Naruto rested his head on the table and started snoring.

"He must be tired, having train all day." I smiled and place Boris on my lap, stroking him length-wise. I noticed Inari starting to cry. And it seems that Naruto noticed it too.

"WHY DO YOU GUYS BOTHER TO TRY SO HARD? NO MATTER HOW HARD YOU TRAIN YOU'RE STILL NO MATCH FOR GATOU'S MEN! NO MATTER WHAT GLORIOUS CLIAMS YOU MAKE OR HOW GARD YOU WORK, WHEN FACING THE STRONG, THE WEAK WILL ONLY END UP GETTING KILLED!"

"What a rude boy. We're trying to help his country and we get yelled at in return." I made a face but quickly settled to my poker face.

"Whatever kid… I'm not like you."Naruto muttered.

"I'D HATE TO BE LIKE YOU! YOU DON'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT THIS COUNTRY, YET YOU'RE BEING SO NOSY! WHAT THE HELL DO YOU KNOW ABOUT ME? I'M DIFFERENT FROM OYU, YOU'RE ALWAYS CLOWNING AROUND AND ACTING SO CHEERFUL, YOU DON'T KNOW HOW HARD LIFE CAN BE!" If the boy don't shut his mouth up, I'll rip it off his head.

"…So it's ok for you to pose as the star of a tragedy and cry all day?"

I looked at Naruto as he lifted his head up and faced Inari.

"Just keep on crying forever you idiot! You little sissy!"That appeared to shock Inari, obviously because that was not the respond he was expecting. It was silent until Sakura spoke.

"Naruto! You've said enough!" He just stood up an left the table.

Trying to break the lingering tension, I tugged on Sasuke's sleeve and pulled in to the bathroom, grabbing Naruto along the way.

"What!" They shouted in unison."The both of you stink. Take a bath before doing anything. I don't want to spend the night holding my nose."

I pushed the both of them into the bathroom, ran to our room and took some of their clothes and two towels and ran back to them.

"Your fast." Naruto commented, taking his clothes.

"Thank you."

"You know, your really weird." I tensed at Sasuke's words. Has he found out about anything related to my lineage?

"During training, you were cold and mean but now your like a fussy mother hen."

I smiled at Naruto, a genuine smile. "You're not the first that told me that. And…I'm sorry. For what happened in the forest. I needed to-" I cut off in mid-line.

"Needed to?" He prompt."Sorry. Can't say." My eyes wondered around the room.

"Anyways, you need a bath so get moving!" To emphasize my point, I gave the both of them a light push. Once in the bathroom, Naruto thought it would be funny to spray me with water.

I stood there, soaked.

I glared at the criminal.

I returned fire. Very soon, the bathroom was full of laugher, even Sasuke smiled a little.

* * *

Kakashi P.O.V

* * *

As I walked out of the house, I heard laughter coming from the second floor bathroom.

"Sounds like they are have a lot of fun." I thought, continuing walking towards Inari.

"Can I join you?"He turned and nodded. After a while, I spoke.

"Well, Naruto didn't mean any harm by what he said. Sometimes he just doesn't use his head."

Inari remained silent.

"Tazuna-san told us about your dad. Like you Naruto also grew up without a father." That seemed to have caught his attention.

"Actually, he's never known his parents. And he's never even had a single friend. The truth is, he's had a rougher past than you. But I never once seen him cry or complain. He's always trying his best to get people to acknowledge him… For that dream he'd risk his life at anytime."

"He's probably sick and tried of crying. He knows what it really means to be strong… Just like your father. Naruto may understand your feelings better than anyone else."

"What?"

I smiled at his direction. "He doesn't seem to be able to not be concerned about you."

Inari smiled. He got up and headed back to the house, thanking me for the talk. Once I was sure he was gone, I called out. "I know your there. Come out Rai."

I stood up with my eyes closed, facing the opposite direction I was facing. Upon opening my eyes, I saw Rai, eyes closed and slightly wet from the battle I assumed happened in the bathroom.

"I know who you are. Your the missing princess from _that_ clan."

She slowly opened her eyes, revealing crimson iris and a pupil not unlike a cat's. Suddenly, I was rooted to the ground. I couldn't move. Just like the last time.

"I expected nothing less from you, Kakashi. You're right. I am royalty. And so is Sirius. In fact, I'm an Alice. I suppose you know what an Alice? But even if you don't, I won't bother explaining it to you. Tell me, how much have you discovered?"

I glared at her. She felt different. As though I wasn't talking to her but another person that looks just like her.I started.

"When you used that ninjutsu on me at the clearing, I knew that you were not a normal girl. I did some research but the words you said made not sense. So I approached the Hokage for permission to go through the prohibited scrolls that were under the protection of the ANBU. There I found that there was a Shadow style, a group of ninjutsu deemed to dangerous to be taught to even the ANBU."

"So I wondered how you, a rookie, could use it. Then I found out that _that_ clan was still teaching the Shadow style to the Royals and Alices."

She sighed. "So you know. Well Sirius's going to blow for sure."

Feeling started to return to my limbs. "Sorry about that Kakashi. I didn't know how you would react. Do me a favor will you? Don't tell anybody about my lineage. Especially those three Genins. They might find out but, for now, I don't want them to know, Kay?"

"Kay?" I asked."Sorry. I have a habit of shorting words. Kay, as in Okay."

If this was a manga, I would have a sweat drop on my head. "I guess."

She clapped her hands together softly, smiling. I have a feeling that it's just beginning. What is it? I haven't the slightest clue. But I feel, no know, that this is going to be a very exciting yet tragic journey all of us are going to have.


	10. Chapter 10

So sorry for the long delay. I had to study for my exams. Damn school. Anyways, as a end-of-exams celebration, I decided to sit down and complete chapter 10. Enjoy!

Thank you everyone who reviewed, especially Onion Bay for your contributions. You know what they are and I thank you again for them.

* * *

Rai P.O.V

* * *

I turned around and started to walk back to the house, preparing mentally to face the Sirius's wrath.

"Well now, Kakashi knows and you're still, as they believed, princess-napped." I smiled.

"Shut up Sirius. Now's not the time to return. You know as well as I do that if I stayed, the whole village would suffer the same fate as our clan."

He looked me straight in the eye, gold at red, and said,"You know you can't hide forever. Be it by blackmail or threat, sooner or later they will find you."

"Likely the latter. And please don't say they will find me. You're jinxing me, you know."

"Hn." He walked away to his own room. "Oh, before I forget. I'm going home so could you take me in for a few days when we're back at Konoha?"

I looked at him, puzzled. "Why?"

"Cause I need to get more supplies before going back home and I want to make sure you reach Konoha in one piece."

"You? Caring about me getting back in one piece? That's a first."

He just smiled and went into his room. Sighing, I went back to mine as well.

Tsunami, Sirius and Boris, who was left in the company of the two, saw all of us, with the exception of Naruto, off as we left for the bridge the next morning. Apparently, Naruto was supposed to not be able to move as he reached his limit yesterday so Kakashi wants him to sleep in and get as much rest as possible.

When we got to the bridge, bodies of dead or dying men littered the area.

"So they've already arrived…" I thought, drawing a kunai and getting into position.

Tazuan ran towards one of the dying ones and asked what happened.

"A…a monster…"

A mist started to form.

"Here they come!" Kakashi shouted. All of us waited patiently for the enemy to appear.

"Kakashi-sensei this is.. This is his Hidden Mist no Jutsu right?" Sakura shouted.

"Long time no see Kakashi… I see you're still with those brats… He's shaking again… Poor kid…"

A huge number of Zabuzas appeared out of the mist, all in various positions to attack.

"I'm shaking from excitement!"

"Do it. Sasuke."

Said boy disappeared with speed as he slashed at all the water clones and returned to his starting point. All of the clones turned into water and splashed all over the ground.

"Hmm… He saw through the water clones. That brat has grown. It looks like a rival has appeared. Eh Haku?" The boy wearing the mask, Haku I assumed, replied. "It does indeed."

"It seems my thinking was right on the mark." I silently agreed with Kakashi. "That masked one… He's obviously Zabuza's comrade, standing right next to him and all."

"He should stop hiding under that mask and face us!" Sakura complained.

"I'll fight him." I glanced at Sasuke. "Tricking us with that stupid act… I hate bastards like that the most."

"You're so cool Sasuke-kun!" I rolled my eyes at my pink-haired teammate. Haku started talking and that grabbed my attention.

"An impressive young man. Even though the water clones only have 1/10 the strength of the original… Still very impressive."

"But we have gained the first advantage." Zabuza mumbled. "Go!"

"Yes."

Haku spun around and disappeared. He went for Sasuke, the two engaging in a fight.

"Sakura! Rai!" Kakashi shouted, "Step in front of Tazuna-san and don't leave my side. We'll let Sasuke handle him"

I nodded, not caring about anything anymore besides the mission.

Only when large needles made of ice materialized around him did my attention turn to Sasuke's battle. At the same time Haku threw himself away from the needles, Sasuke focused his chakra to his feet and managed to jump out unharmed.

I continued to watch as Sasuke landed blow after blow, finally kicking Haku a considerable distance away.

"I can't have you underestimating my team by calling them 'brats'. Sasuke is Leaf Village's number one rookie. Sakura is the brightest in the village, the other one is the show-off, hyper-active, number one loudest ninja in the village and Rai is… special." I laughed at his comment about me. I became serious when Zabuza mimicked that action.

"Hehehe. Haku, do you realize? At this rate we'll be driven back." I felt a chill as Haku stood up. "Yeah. We can't have that…" He made a hand sign and the water behind Sasuke rose, emitting icy mist as it grew.

When the jutsu was completed, a crude-looking dome made of rectangular ice mirrors trapped Sasuke inside in. I counted twenty-one altogether, twelve remain at ground level, eight are placed above the first twelve and angled toward the ground, and the final mirror is above the rest and facing the ground.

"Demonic ice mirrors. An ice-style jutsu." I thought, "Sasuke's in trouble now."

Haku stepped into one of the mirrors, his three-dimensional form becoming two-dimensional. From my position, I was able to see multiple images of him reflected in each of the twenty-one mirrors.

With my eyesight, I saw senbons flying at a speed that normal humans would not be able to see at Sasuke from all directions. Notably, none was aimed to kill.

Zabuza threatened to kill Tazuna and us if Kakashi get past him, so he couldn't help Sasuke. Sakura tried to throw a kunai to Sasuke but Haku caught it.

I saw a shuriken thrown at Haku, that made him lose his balance and fell out of one of the mirrors.

I sniffed at the air and thought, "Show-off."

"Uzumaki Naruto has finally arrived!" He shouted for the whole world to hear. He started on about how a hero always enters at the last minute and save everyone.

"Was he born with zero common sense? Like Ace and his sense of direction." I grinned as the psychopath's familiar face drifted through my mind.

Hearing the sound of metal hitting metal, I forced Ace away from my mind and focused on the fight I nearly forgotten was happening.

"Haku, what is this?" Zabuza asked.

"Zabuza-san. These kids. Please let me fight them my way."

"So you don't want me to interfere, Haku? You're soft as always."

Soft? I examined Sasuke's wounds. The senbons just caused several scratches, nothing particularly life-threatening. A flash of yellow and orange ran into the dome.

"IDIOT!" I clenched my teeth. "If Naruto attacked from the outside and Sasuke from the inside we could have a chance at winning. But the moron just had to make things worse."

Haku returned to the mirror and attacked. Naruto tried to use Kage Bunshin to counter-attack but it was in vain.

"For this kid to master a jutsu like that." Kakashi said, "An advance bloodline. A deep blood linage… Superior genealogy… It's a jutsu passed down by your ancestors."

"Then…"Sakura mumbled.

"Yeah, you could compare it to my Sharingan. Even I couldn't copy it. It's impossible to defeat."

I tuned them out. Multi-tasking was one of my weakness.

"Rai!" I snapped my head up. "Help Naruto and Sasuke!"

I heeded my Sensei's words and placed away the kunai I held in my hand. Blood rushed to my limbs and I could feel the energy build up in me. In the previous fight, I lost my cool but now, the odds are stacked in my favor. Lest I lose my head again.

I bend forward slightly and sprinted towards the dome. I saw movement coming from my left. I turned towards it and crossed my arms to protect my throat and head from the attack. Zabuza's sword slashed me, causing a deep wound on my shoulder, a diagonal cut running down my right wrist and a deep gash on the length of my left forearm. I leaped away from him. Kakashi moved in front of him to prevent further attacks.

Blood ran freely down my shoulder and arms. The wounds would heal but there might be scars.

"Don't interfere their battle." He said. "Or I will kill you."

I got onto my knees and examined the wounds more closely. The shoulder wound was the deepest. The others were already starting to heal. The red liquid was flowing down my arm and chest, staining my clothes.

Suddenly, a great amount of charka started to fill the air. It was felt wild and animalistic. I looked at the battle that was happening in the dome. Somehow, Naruto managed to get Haku out of the mirror and smashed several of them. I couldn't see what happened clearly but I know that Naruto had punched Haku's mask and he went flying through the air.

Naruto's fingernails were longer and sharper, his canines more pronounced. His pupils were slits and the color red. I saw Sasuke laying there, not moving.

"Kakashi!" I shouted and darted to Sasuke. Zabuza tried to attack but Kakashi stopped it.

"He's in a temporary death state." I whispered to myself when I saw the area the needle hit.

Then I smelled fresh blood. My own must have covered its scent. I looked at the direction it was coming from and saw a mass of people and a little guy's back was standing beside Haku's body. I noted the gaping hole in his chest and his still chest.

Tazuna and Sakura ran to Sasuke, mumbled something unimportant and began wailing over the not-dead Sasuke.

"Sasuke you bastard wake up already. Your girlfriend's wailing is unbearable." His eyes flickered after my statement. "Sakura, your heavy." Said girl started hugging him and wailing all over again like there is no tomorrow. Which is likely to happen if she keep insisting on getting on my bad side. He stood up and walked away from the dome and me.

"Oh my, what a fight."

I spun my head around. Sure enough, out of the merged shadow cast by the surviving mirrors, was Ace.

I looked at Ace. "What are you doing here? Get back to Wonderland!"

Ace tilted his head to the left. "Ha? We aren't here on purpose. I got lost and Sir Peter came to bring me back to the castle. On the way a few faceless attacked us. We killed most of them but one escaped. We chased him and Sir Peter shot him in the head. When we went to retrieve the clock we fell through the shadow of the tree."

'I knew I forgot something.' I pulled them out of the shadow. Each Portal can be used twice but since I had used it once before, they can't get back to Wonderland until a new one is opened.

"Hm? What happened to you Rai?" The knight asked.

"Nothing time can't heal." He nodded and stood up. No one noticed him yet, so I asked him to run to the village. There was no time to open another Portal.

"I can't do that Rai. That guy with the sword hurt you right? I can't let that slip by. After all, if he decided to kill you again and you do die, I won't be able to hear your heart beat." He started to unsheathe his sword. I grabbed his hand and shook my head.

"He will die soon. So leave him be. You could kill the thugs but there is no use killing someone who is about to die." He considered my words and sheathed his sword.

A white glove grabbed the edge of the shadow and a head with snowy hair and crimson eyes followed.

"Peter!"

His mouth opened, his face lifted. His eyes lingered at my shoulder wound, his face became one of concern.

"Alice! Are you alright? What am I saying! Of course your not fine! Who did this to you?" Before I could say anything, Peter took out his gun and ran towards Kakashi. Kakashi standing next to the bodies of Zabuza and Haku. Zabuza's blade was beside him. Peter must have thought that Kakashi wounded me with Zabuza's sword.

"Peter stop! H-" I winced as a sharp pain stung my shoulder. My vision blurred and my legs failed to support me. I collapsed on the ground, panting and clutching my one remaining wound.

* * *

Ace P.O.V

* * *

Alice got into a kneeling position and panted heavily. She turned and commanded, "Ace, stop Peter."

I nodded and went forward. Sir Peter was firing shot after shot at the human with gray hair and a mask covering the lower half of his face. The three children rushed forward to fend off the bullets and protect him.

"Calm down Sir Peter. Shouldn't you be helping Alice instead of trying to kill the person who attacked her?" Sir Peter looked at me, then at the humans, back at me before running back to Alice.

"Hey you! Who do you think you are? Attacking Kakashi-sensei all of a sudden!"

I looked at one of the human children, the one with blond hair and a orange jacket and smiled. I could kill him easily.

"That's right! Why did he attack Kakashi-sensei?" This time it was the female child with sakura-pink hair.

"Hm? But you attacked Alice."

"Alice?" An aged human asked.

"Hey." One of the thugs said. "You're gonna pay for killing our meal ticket."

I glared at them. They took a step back.

"Leave." All of them left with threats to come back.

The blond child pointed a finger behind me and shouted 'Ah'. Sir Peter stood beside me, carrying Alice bridal-style.

"You psycho! What are you doing to Rai?"

Alice tugged on Sir Peter's collar. She whispered into his ears and fell asleep. Sir Peter made a frustrated sound and announced what Alice told him.

"By the decree of Liddell Alice the Fifth, these humans are to be under the protection of the Liddell family and under no circumstances should anybody who have heard this intentionally harm them. This is considered void if it is overruled by Liddell Alice the Fifth and no one else."

"Hm… The lot of you seem to be rather important to Alice. It would be fun to kill you." I commented.

"You cannot do that. You have heard the decree and is expected to act accordingly." Sir Peter reprimanded.

"HEY!" Alice twitched and moved one hand over her exposed ear.

"What are you talking about? Who the hell is Alice? W-" The human, Kakashi, stopped the blond from continuing.

"Stop it Naruto. Don't talk so rudely to Miss Alice."

"HA? Kakashi-sensei wh-"

"Shut up you dope. Let them explain." The last human child said.

Kakashi coughed. "Shall we continue this conversation elsewhere? Miss Alice's wound should be treated as soon as possible."

I looked at Sir Peter. As Sir Peter is of a higher rank, he should be the one to represent Alice.

"That would be much appreciated. But seeing that she have been injured while in your care, we find it hard to trust Milady with you."

"I understand. However, Miss Alice's wound is deep and cannot heal properly on its own. I know of a close friend of Miss Alice that can help her."

Sir Peter pondered on it for quite a while before replying.

"Show us the way."


	11. Chapter 11

Ace's P.O.V

* * *

Kakashi led us to a house that was on stilts above the water. Sir Peter was noticeably uncomfortable about the location of the house. After all, Alice did not know how to swim. In the house we met a female human named Tsunami and, unsurprisingly, Alice's older brother Lorina.

By some miracle we were able to get Alice's wounds treated before the blond child made a fuss. All the shinobis were lead to a separate room while the adult female, old male and young boy were shepherded to the kitchen so that Alice would not get woken up. Lorina, Sir Peter and I entered the room and everyone, with the exception of Sir Peter, sat in a circle.

Lorina cleared his throat. "I understand that you are confused as to what is happening, so, with the exception of Naruto because of several reasons, Sir Peter, Sir Ace and myself would answer any inquiries you may have for the next hour."

The first to ask was the girl. "Well, who is Alice?"

Lorina smiled. "Rai is Alice."

"So Alice is Rai?"

Sir Peter's ears twitched. "I thought that orange creature was prohibited from talking."

"Wha? I am not a creature!" The blond child retorted. Sir Peter's finger curled slightly.

"Now now Peter, no harming the humans." Lorina reminded. "I did not say that he could not speak. I said he could not ask."

Sir Peter made an irritated sound and said, "I am going to check on Alice."

"Go on then." Lorina nodded. "Now, your question. As I had said, Rai is Alice but Alice is not Rai."

"Ha? If Rai is Alice then Alice must be Rai."

Lorina sighed. "Like a square is a rectangle, Rai is Alice. Like a rectangle is not a square, Alice is not Rai. Do not worry if you are unable to understand. I did not expect you to."

"That was rather mean Lorina." I laughed. Silence. "Hm? Did I say something wrong?"

"Lorina?"

I nodded and folded my arms behind my head. "Yep. Rai is Alice and Hikaru is Lorina."

The blond bursted out laughing. "Bwahahaha! Lo-lorina! Hahaha! Hi-hikaru is Lorina! Hahaha!"

"Holding your stomach and bending backwards laughing like an old geezer. Are you really twelve?"

I tilted my head to face the door. "Ah! You're awake."

Alice and Sir Peter joined the circle we formed. Alice was wearing a embroidered black negligee with sleeves that shows only the last joint and fingernails of the three fingers in the middle. Thick, dark brown fur was sewn along every opening on the garment and the thread used to embroider the negligee were dull golden and embroidered in intricate pattens.

"Before you say anything, I know I need more rest but I can't if they are making so much noise." Alice said. "I'll take over from here Sirius. Go get some rest. Peter, make sure he fall asleep."

Sir Peter nodded and followed Lorina upstairs. Alice turned her attention to Kakashi. "Please explain about our clan Kakashi. I will explain what you miss out."

Kakashi started explaining about the Liddell clan. "Rai and Hikaru are from the Liddell clan, the clan which I told you about. Their clan have a unique ranking system. First is the Royals, the most important and highest rank, second is the Nobles and the last are the commoners, those without ranks. The Liddell have a forbidden jutsu that is only taught to Royals and Nobles. That is the shadow style. Instead of charka, life is used to perform the jutsu."

"Life?" The black-haired boy asked.

"Life from a certain perspective. The shadow style uses blood from a living creature." Alice corrected. "A living creature such as the user."

"So using the shadow style uses the user's blood instead of charka."

"Yep." Alice confirmed.

The blond raised his hand and asked, "Hey hey Rai. Why are they calling you Alice?"

A ghost of a smile appeared on her lips. She placed her index finger on her lips and whispered slowly, "Another time, another place. Not here, not now."

She stood up and walked out the door. She had her hand on the door when she giggled, "Goodnight. May you be blessed with nightmares."

Even when she left the room, I could still hear her creepy laughter.

* * *

Rai's P.O.V

* * *

I returned to my room.

"Hey Rai, can I ask you something?"

"Of course." I replied.

"Why is it that you can be me but I cannot be you?"

I opened the door, stepped inside and closed it. Sirius was fast asleep on my futon. I lifted the blanket and snuggled close to him.

"It's just like what Sirius said. A square can be a rectangle but a rectangle can never be a square."

"... Sometimes I just hate the both of you."

I tittered. "Goodnight Alice."

"Goodnight Rai."

* * *

This chapter was short and pathetic. Hope you enjoyed it.


	12. Author's Note

**Author's Note**

I don't normally like doing individual notes but since the latest chapter is _still_ not done, I had to do it.

First off, I would like to apologies for not updating the story for so long. But, as we all know, school is a bitch and since this year is a streaming year, I have to study a lot more. So updates would be slow and rare.

But the good news is, its almost done! Hopefully I could get the latest chapter up soon.

And thank you for staying with the story despite its irregular updates.

Now, excuse me while I deal with that growing pile of papers...


	13. Chapter 12

I feel so guilty for not updating for so long. I'm trying out a new way of writing so please review!

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The bridge was completed and the team got ready to leave the Country of the Waves. They had a tearful farewell from the old geezer, Tsunami, the brat and some guy from the bridge building team, the tears were mostly from the brat. Rai noticed the blue-haired boy grinning widely like an idiot.

"Why are you smiling like that?" She asked, annoyed.

"Does one need a reason to smile?"

"Does one need a reason to torture?"

He stopped smiling.

Ace joined in our conversation, "Something wrong Alice? You're not normally this bitter."

"Shut up." She snapped.

Finally, the group started making our way back to Konoha. The Country of the Waves was rather close to Konoha, so the journey would take at most two days.

"Great. Two days with the stalker and psycho in the world where killing is immoral," She sighed. "Think they can make it back without severally injuring someone?"

"Hm… Hard to say." Boris replied. Rai could feel him twist into a more comfortable position in her bag. "Why can't you just send them back last night?"

"That will raise questions. And just because they found out about my lineage doesn't mean they are entitled to information such as Portals and Wonderland."

"And to think I would have you all to myself…"

"You know normally dogs are the possessive ones, not cats."

"Cats can't be possessive?"

"I never said that."

An annoyed 'che' directed her attention to Peter. The Prime Minster was looking rather irritated by the curious looks from her, dare-she-say-it, age mates.

"Could you stop staring at Peter?" Rai asked them.

Sakura became flustered. "Ah! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to stare!"

Peter opened his mouth to retort but Rai slapped a hand over his lips before he could start.

"Don't cause any of us any trouble or I am never seeing you again." She hissed. She removed her hand and picked up the pace.

"Oh oh! Rai I have a question!" Naruto asked suddenly. "Why does he have rabbit ears? And why are their clothes so weird? And and-"

Her hand whipped in his general direction, hitting his neck and his windpipe hard. The outcome was expected. The threatening action along with her cold, emotionless glare shut him up rather well. Either that or the idiot noticed her abnormally shaped nails pressing themselves against his flesh.

Rai allowed herself a smug smile as she removed her hand.

"T-That was dangerous! You could had killed me!" Naruto rubbed his neck.

"Wish I did. It would save me a lot of trouble." The offender replied coldly.

"Don't take it to heart. She get mood-swings all the time." Sirius assured him, or at the very least tried to. It didn't seem to work, the blond still looked rather afraid of her.

"Be glad I'm in a better mood today." Naruto heard the annoyed girl muttered.

"Hey Alice, out of curiosity, what would you do if you were in a bad mood?" Ace asked.

Rai brought a finger to her chin, looked up to the sky and replied, "Strap him to a wooden chair, tear off his nails with my hands, nail a nail into his joints, starting from his finger joints, and just rip whatever there is… Like this!"

She raised her left index finger, pointed at the first joint to show where the nail would go, and made a violent movement to show how she would rip it off.

"And of course salt water makes everything worse!" She replied. What's frightening was how cheerful answering the knight's question made her.

All the people who did not know of her sadistic side shivered.

The rest of the day went quietly as no one dared to talk or start any conversation due to the ever-constant fear of somehow upsetting Rai.

Sirius was right. Rai had extreme mood swings. After the traumatic event that made almost everyone rethink their perspective of Rai, Naruto just had to step on a twig. That little sound, that small snap, brought back every bit of bitterness she possessed moments ago. But it didn't come back alone. Oh no. It came back with company.

Now even the most simplest of movement seemed to agitate her further.

It was going to be one hell of a trip home.


	14. Chapter 13

Back at Konoha, Naruto collapsed on his laid-out futon, exhausted. He felt something amiss, but quickly dismissed it as a result of his exhaustion and days spent enduring his disturbing teammate's threatening glare.

The dark figure loomed outside the window, waiting patiently for his target to sink into a deep sleep before making his move. He opened the window silently and entered the room. His mask, resembling the top half of a raven's head, stood out in contrast with his snowy hair. He smiled. Gently extending a hand, he touched the young boy's forehead with a small, clear ball. A slightly luminous, feathery black substance emitted from the point of contact. It last for a few seconds before disappearing. The stranger withdrew his hand and, as quickly and silently as he came, he disappeared into the night, a small black object held between his fingers.

Sasuke sat on his bed and looked at the panoramic view of Konoha from his window. He tried to reflect in the past two weeks spent away but it was all cloudy. He rubbed his eyes and tried again. However, nothing changed. There were very few memories that were not hazy. However, he noted, the fuzziest was the night after the battle on the bridge, the night they found out about…

What? Sasuke rubbed his temple hard but he just could not remember. He made a frustrated sound, gave up and turned in for the night.

Black flats stepped on a nearby roof without making a sound. He lingered outside for a while before entering the second house. After all, one can never be too careful. He repeated the procedure and quickly left. Two down, two to go.

Kakashi laid on the bed and tried to recall the events of the past mission. There was no way he could write nothing for the report of the mission. But that was what he could recall. Everything was a blur. He sighed and slept. After all, it could be because of exhaustion and Kakashi was sure that everything will clear up in the morning.

He was being extra careful with this one. Hatake Kakashi was not one to be dealt with carelessly. In a matter of seconds, it was done. He jumped away gracefully and silently. He stopped to rest on a utility pole. He held the glass bottle against the moon. Moonlight shone on the three black spheres contained inside, though just black does not suffice. Misty or feathery black might be a better description, their slight glow brightened as he gently shook the bottle. He watched as the moonlight filtered through the spheres and the 'mist' contained inside swirl clock-wise. If one looked hard enough, he would be able to see figures a few shades darker reenacting the events of the last two weeks. His eyes closed and he pocketed the bottle. There was still one house left to visit.

Sakura yawned and dumped the damp towel she used into a basket containing her used clothes. She made her way to her bed and sleep claimed her as quickly as it claimed her blond teammate. She, as well, had failed to notice the lonesome figure lurking outside her window

The wind picked up and flapped his cloak, adding on to his raven persona. Carefully, he lowered the ball and the luminous shadow glowed and died. He removed the sphere and turned sharply to leave. He raised his head to the moon and slowly, from beneath his cloak, a pair of majestic sable wings emerged. He smirked at the ironic wings he sprouted. With a strong downstroke, he flew away and the white-haired raven vanished.

"_**At the distorted bottom of the dying world, I am fated to sing prayers.**_"

He entered the room, cloak and wings no longer on his person. The raven beak of his mask pointed to the ground as he approached the singing maiden. A blue-haired youth sat at a corner of the library, sipping a cup of tea and enjoying the song.

"_**With the gentle voices sleeping in the forgotten past, as I change my despair to a smile,**_"

The youth nodded at him and started reading a book. The maiden moved from her perch made the protruding window, a private place covered with pillows and cushions, completed with curtains for the window and curtains for the screen that was the barrier between her sanctuary and the outside, to directly in front of him.

"_**I sink to the bottom of tears.**_"

She stopped. He sank down on one knee reflexively. She laughed softly. "**I told you. You don't have to do that.**"

He mumbled an apology.

"**There is no need for apologies.**" She signaled for him to stand. He obeyed. From a second window in the library, moonlight entered the room. To normal humans, to see in this lighting requires practice and squirting. However, to the three, the moonlight was as strong as the afternoon sun, allowing them to see perfectly.

Rai tilted her head to one side. "Drop the serious act, please. It's freaking me out."

He laughed and removed the raven mask. White hair dropped smoothly to cover his right eye socket but did nothing to mask the long, pale and straight scar that travelled from his hairline to the bottom of his face and over his left eyelid. It opened to reveal a beautiful scarlet iris.

She smiled and hugged him. He hugged back and played with a lock of her waist-long black hair and felt her steady heartbeat against his.

"Welcome back," She whispered.

"I'm home." He replied.

"It's strange right? Right? Hey Rai answer me~!"

Rai breathed deep and tries to contain her anger. The annoying blond was relentlessly pelting her with questions. According to the three other shinobis, they could not remember much about the parts of the mission that involves her. The start of the first fight, the tree chakra training and leaving were the only parts the three could remember clearly.

Though she did notice a certain silent boy glaring at her. To her knowledge, she had done nothing to upset him, thus she did not think much about it.

"Sorry I am late. I got lost…"

Kakashi stopped talking as he surveyed the strangely dressed girl. "Rai?" He asked, surprised.

"Good morning Kakashi." Rai smiled. Her teammates were equally surprised when they met up that morning. She was not wearing her normal dress but a sleeveless jacket over a long-sleeve black shirt that stopped at mid-thigh with the kanji for 'Death' printed in a red and creepy font. The jacket's exterior was white with several pockets with transparent buttons. The interior and hood were azure. She wore black shorts that just peeked out of her shirt.

Since he had no right to question her sense of fashion, he changed the subject by shepherding them to the Hokage's office to receive the day's mission.

The gate creaked opened and the girl stepped into the mansion ground. She closed the gate behind her, locked it and estimated the time. Somehow, she always knew when the sun would set.

"Almost time for dinner," She thought, "Netami should be back."

She opened the tall door and was attacked immediately with a hug. "Ojou-sama! Okaeri!"

She struggled a little in his crushing embrace. "Ran! Let go!" She jokingly shouted. The boy - or should it be man?- released her and smiled. Ran was a full head taller than her. His long, light pink hair tied neatly in a ponytail and his attire consists of a black vest over a crisp white blouse and a pair of black pants decorated with a few sliver chains.

She walked in and Ran closed the door. She approached the large central staircase that ends at a platform between the first and second level of the two-story mansion. She caressed the forged raven on the first newel of the staircase and trailed her hand along it as she walked up the stairs. The platform was the equivalent of a _genkan*_.

They normally wear individualized flats when they were in the house so who was at home could be easily identified, the exception being servants like Ran and Maki. They wear white ones. Her eyes lit up when she saw three distinct flats missing from the platform. Hastily, she removed the black boots she wore, slipped on her flats - black with embroidered red spider lilies - and ran towards the living space.

She burst through the door, Ran lagging behind. As she ran in, she knocked into a person…

…And hugged him tight.

He laughed and hugged her back. "How are ya?"

She walked out of his embrace and looked up at his lustrous yellow eyes. "Bored." She replied in a similar tone,"A shinobi life is not as exciting as I thought it would be."

The black-haired man shagged his shoulders. "Almost nothing is as what you think it would be princess." He pinched her cheek.

She smacked the limb lightly, causing Anthony to release his hand's fair prisoner. She then set her sights to a brunet on the love seat reading a book. "Ko-chan!" She sat next to him and threw her arms around his neck. He smiled, used to her eccentric behavior, and petted her head.

"You are still as random and childish as usual. When will you ever grow up?" Anthony asked.

She thought about it. "Possibly never. Ko-chan, have you seen Netami?"

The brunet looked up from his book and pointed to the large window at the other side of the room, the 'mirror' of the equally large door. "Probably playing with Miki in the garden."

She said a word of thanks and proceeded to their large garden behind the building. She made a beeline to the herb garden at the furthest left corner of the garden. Knowing him, he would be tending to the plants there. Sure enough, when she got to the herb garden, a white-haired youth wearing a straw hat was busy digging out weeds while preventing a curious grey-and-black wolf pup from ingesting the potentially fatal plants. The pup's ears perked up and he yapped, abandoned the basket for the girl. She picked the pup up and it yapped again. The snowy-haired youth looked up and waved at her. He was wearing a white shirt with the sleeves and edges dyed black. A spiderweb was drawn over the area of the shirt where the heart should be and a black spider with dark-green markings on its abdomen was in the middle. From below it, a pair of brightly colored butterfly wings, the body obstructed by the spider.

"How ironic." She thought and waved back.

"Did you have a good day?" He asked as he walked towards her.

"Netami, I spent the day picking weeds from a garden which _grows_ similar-looking plants, walked dogs and picked up trash from a river. What do you think?"

"That it was great until you needed to get into the water."

"Exactly." The young wolf yapped and jumped out of the girl's arms and into the basket Netami was carrying.

"Miki! Get out!" He scolded, "Rai get him out! Ah no! Don't eat that!"

She gently scooped Miki out of the basket and stroked his head.

"And they were so well-organized," Netami grumbled.

"Quit complaining. You can always sort them out in the kitchen." Rai pointed out. She looked at his long white fringe covering his right eye. She gently brushed it away, revealing an empty eye socket.

"It does not hurt anymore. You don't need to worry your pretty head over it." He reassured her. She nodded. They walked back to the house. Like a real gentleman, Netami opened the door.

"After you." He gestured. She said thanks as she walked in. Miki yapped and jumped again. He made a beeline for the kitchen.

Rai heard the door close and Netami rushed forward to lead the pup away from the kitchen.

It was four in the afternoon. There was still time. Rai made her way to her sanctuary in the library. After all, who couldn't resist a four-hour nap?

**A/N: **About the bold:

**Bold**- speaking in another language.

The bold font will play a part in this fic.

The song is 'Paradise of Light and Shadow' by Vocaloid.

A _genkan_ is the traditional Japanese area for which primary function is for the removal of shoes before entering the main part of the house or building. _Genkan_ are often recessed into the floor, to contain any dirt that is tracked in from the outside.

If you are wondering about the ironic shirt thing, I'll explain it for you.

Netami means envy in Japanese, a butterfly symbolises a person's soul in Japan, black symbolises the bad while the white symbolises the good in people. There was a saying that says that there is good in everybody so that's why the white is in the black. But, even with that goodness, a person can be corrupted by many things, in this case, envy, represented by the black and green spider eating the butterfly representing the person's soul


End file.
